Puts a notification LED on a mainstream phone, per GSM Arena's preview. (And my respect for that review site races even higher for pointing it out!)

This is the one. (133g, 4.8" screen, physical home button, LED, and two things no longer automatic in 2012: big replaceable battery and microSD slot) Now to just decide on a target price. I bet it's going to be $800 to get in the U.S. the day after release. (Update: pre-order price is $775 as of 5/24. Am I good?) I'm not interested in how the U.S. carriers will screw it up, either: i9300 for me, thanks, with "merely" 21 Mbps HSDPA+. But probably not until the end of the year. And I can only hope no bad news comes out for reception (I'll accept Samsung average) or audio quality after testing. Update: everything is great in the full review!

Meanwhile I'm carrying my E73 for a while. I got maps loaded for vacation — thanks to the folks that worked out the "alternative map loader" page for Ovi Maps — not that I expect to be out of data coverage. I'm enjoying having a light phone in a holster on my hip again. Fell in love with the keyboard harder than ever after touching it. I think work's downgrade to a Curve got me in practice with what is still, while tolerable, a too narrow keyboard. Not enjoying all the known issues with Symbian. But I'm planning on taking this one out of town. Light, better camera, and offline navigation, yet I won't mind losing it.

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